I. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related generally to a wireless communication device, and more particularly, to a system and method for using feature codes in a wireless communication system.
II. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communication devices, such as cellular telephones, are widely used as a replacement for conventional telephone systems. In addition to functioning as a replacement for a convention telephone, wireless communication devices offer the advantage of portability, thus enabling the user to establish a wireless communication link from almost any location on Earth to almost any other location on Earth.
To establish a communication link using a typical wireless communication device, the user enters the desired destination telephone number (e.g., 555-1234) and presses a xe2x80x9cSENDxe2x80x9d button. Frequently used telephone numbers may be stored in a speed-dialing storage area within the wireless communication device. To establish a communication link with a telephone whose number is stored in the speed-dialing storage area, the user simply recalls the desired speed-dialing location and presses the SEND button.
One disadvantage of the conventional wireless communication device is that the user must manually enter additional digits to use feature codes. For example, feature codes such as xe2x80x9c*82xe2x80x9d can be pre-pended to the destination telephone number to transmit call identification data (i.e., caller-ID) to the destination telephone. Similarly, caller-ID can be blocked by pre-pending xe2x80x9c*67xe2x80x9d to the destination telephone number. If a speed-dial storage location is programmed with the telephone number 555-1234, the telephone number in the speed-dial location must be edited to utilize the feature codes. To use the feature codes, the user must memorize the feature codes and the function associated with each of the feature codes.
Some prior art wireless communication systems do include an edit mode that permits the user to manually pre-pend feature codes to existing telephone numbers in the speed-dial storage locations. However, such a system is cumbersome because the user must enter the edit mode, manually add the desired digits, and exit the edit mode prior to initiating the call. Furthermore, the user must manually edit the data in the selected speed-dial location each time a call is initiated.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there is significant need for a system and method to automatically pre-pend feature codes to destination telephone numbers in a wireless communication device to thereby provide a complete destination telephone number. The present invention provides this and other advantages as will be illustrated by the following description and accompanying figures.
The present invention is embodied in a system and method for the automatic addition of digits to a destination telephone number in a wireless communication device. In an exemplary embodiment, the system comprises a keypad input device to permit user entry of a destination telephone number. A memory contains a plurality of sets of additional digits to be added to the user-entered destination telephone number. The system further includes a user-controllable enable signal to selectively enable the addition of sets of additional digits from the memory. A control processor automatically adds a first one of the sets of additional digits to the user-entered destination telephone number to thereby generate a complete destination telephone number.
In an exemplary embodiment, the control processor can automatically add a second one of the sets of additional digits from the memory to the user-entered destination telephone number to thereby generate a complete destination telephone number. The system may further include a speed-dial storage area to store a plurality of destination telephone numbers. In this embodiment, the user-entered destination telephone number may be selected from the speed-dial storage area. The system may further include an indicator stored in the speed-dial storage area in association with the user-entered destination telephone number selected from the speed-dial storage area. The indicator is used to indicate an association of the first set of additional digits with the user-entered destination telephone number selected from the speed-dial storage area.
In one embodiment, at least a portion of the sets of additional digits are pre-programmed into the memory by a service provider. Alternatively, at least a portion of the sets of additional digits may be pre-programmed into the memory by the user.
The system may also include a display that displays the completed destination telephone number. A transmitter within the system may transmit the completed destination telephone number only if the user confirms the displayed destination telephone number by activating the keypad input device in a pre-determined manner.
The system may be selectively activated to add the first set of additional digits to the user-entered destination telephone number in all subsequent calls to the user-entered destination telephone number until the control processor is selectively disabled. Alternatively, the wireless communication device has a power-on mode and a power-off mode. In this embodiment, the control processor adds the first set of additional digits to the user-entered destination telephone number in all subsequent calls to the user-entered destination telephone number until the wireless communication device enters the power-off mode. The control processor is disabled when the wireless communication device enters the power-off mode.